WB president visits Barisal, meets project stakeholders

On the second day of his two-day visit to Bangladesh, World Bank (WB) president Jim Yong Kim visited two development projects in Barisal and talked to the stakeholders. He first visited Rakudia Gram Samittee under the social development project at Babugang upazila of Barisal to hold a meeting with the stakeholders and to see their income-generation activities, including fish and cattle farms. Later, he visited the Vososhakathi cyclone shelter under Uzirpur upazila of the district and held a meeting with its stakeholders. Both the projects are financed by the WB, with assistance from the finance ministry.
After visiting the projects, the WB president, at a press briefing, said local women were able to improve their lives by receiving training from the projects. He also said the people of Bangladesh were hard-working, and the WB would extend more support to them to improve their standards of living.
Rakudia Gram Samittee started working in this village under the social development project in 2012. It currently has 198 members, all of them women. The organisation has given loans amounting to Tk. 51 lakh to 154 stakeholders after training them for different income-generating sectors. No loan defaulter has been found here, and the regular return rate is over 96 per cent.
Kohinur Begum and Shiuli Begum, two housewives from the village, said they had taken Tk. 50,000 as loans from the organisation to cultivate fish and cattle. Now, each of them has cash over Tk. 1 lakh in hand along with sufficient fish and cattle.
Moni Rani, another stakeholder, said all the members of the organisation had the power to participate while taking decisions.
Md Anwarul Karim, district manager of Rakudia Gram Samittee, said so far more than 13,000 women had been able to cut the shackles of poverty with the help provided by the organisation.
After hearing the story, the WB president expressed his appreciation of the organisation’s work and its role in poverty alleviation in rural Bangladesh.

WB president visits Barisal, meets project stakeholders

On the second day of his two-day visit to Bangladesh, World Bank (WB) president Jim Yong Kim visited two development projects in Barisal and talked to the stakeholders. He first visited Rakudia Gram Samittee under the social development project at Babugang upazila of Barisal to hold a meeting with the stakeholders and to see their income-generation activities, including fish and cattle farms. Later, he visited the Vososhakathi cyclone shelter under Uzirpur upazila of the district and held a meeting with its stakeholders. Both the projects are financed by the WB, with assistance from the finance ministry. After visiting the projects, the WB president, at a press briefing, said local women were able to improve their lives by receiving training from the projects. He also said the people of Bangladesh were hard-working, and the WB would extend more support to them to improve their standards of living. Rakudia Gram Samittee started working in this village under the social development project in 2012. It currently has 198 members, all of them women. The organisation has given loans amounting to Tk. 51 lakh to 154 stakeholders after training them for different income-generating sectors. No loan defaulter has been found here, and the regular return rate is over 96 per cent. Kohinur Begum and Shiuli Begum, two housewives from the village, said they had taken Tk. 50,000 as loans from the organisation to cultivate fish and cattle. Now, each of them has cash over Tk. 1 lakh in hand along with sufficient fish and cattle. Moni Rani, another stakeholder, said all the members of the organisation had the power to participate while taking decisions. Md Anwarul Karim, district manager of Rakudia Gram Samittee, said so far more than 13,000 women had been able to cut the shackles of poverty with the help provided by the organisation. After hearing the story, the WB president expressed his appreciation of the organisations work and its role in poverty alleviation in rural Bangladesh.